Grebes: Podicipediformes

Grebes like to sunbathe and preen, groom, themselves and spend a lot of time doing so. Many grebes have ten to twelve calls that they use, primarily during breeding season, while other grebes are almost completely silent year-round. Their vocalizations range from whistles to beeps to wails.

Grebes fly at night when moving between various regions. They sometimes fly in groups and loose flocks. The grebe is seasonally monogamous (muh-NAH-guh-mus), has only one mate each year. Nests are built by both parents on the water so that they float, but often they are attached to plant life. These birds build several other platforms besides the nest which they use for resting, mating, and sunbathing. Two to four eggs, or three to eight eggs at higher latitudes, are laid and incubated, warmed, by both parents for twenty-two to twenty-three days. After birth, both parents care for and feed the chicks, which take their first flights between six and twelve weeks of age. They are ready to breed at one year. Some species lay eggs two or three times each year.

Predators of the grebe, animals that hunt them for food, include weasels, mink, ferrets, crows, hawks, gulls, and pike. Grebes live to be anywhere from eleven to fifteen years old.